By Sophia Gerl
“Moon Sniper” is what the Japanese uncrewed craft is called.
On January 20th, the spacecraft landed on the moon. Japan’s space agency reports that they communicated with it when it landed on the surface of the planet.
Japan is now one of the five countries that landed on the moon. In the past years, the USA, China, the former Soviet Union and India already attempted to discover it.
Another name for the spacecraft is SLIM. This stands for Smart Lander For Investigating The Moon.
However, a problem arises because the craft’s solar generators are not working properly.
Now it’s just relying on batteries that won’t last long. The space agency is trying to fix the problem as fast as possible.
Besides these issues, the new spacecraft brings up new progress in technology that allows the craft to land on a very small and even uneven area. So when it is landing on the moon, it can actually land on small craters.
Compared to the other crafts, there is no longer a need to search for large and even areas.
Previous lunar landers had to have a landing zone of multiple kilometers.
To be able to examine the planet, the spacecraft carried two rovers with it, which also contained new technologies.
One of these vehicles includes a camera along with scientific equipment, and it uses a hopping mechanism, which makes it easier to move on the surface of the moon.
The second vehicle is so small that it can fit in the palm of your hand. This one is also created to discover the planet, and it slightly separates in two halves so it can roll on the ground.
SLIM uses a vision-based navigation system that makes it possible to take pictures of the lunar surface. These pictures are being compared by a system that includes recordings of previous missions.
The landing and discovery of the moon shows that interest in lunar activity is growing globally.
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